Flat Taxes
Around this time of year, I always get in little tiffs with friends over “flat” taxes. Natch, the “fairness” club is hauled out early and often.
Kevin Drum’s got it right: (in reference to this article in the National Review.)
But what really gets me is how they always present these things as if we need a flat tax because the tax code is too damn complex. Well, the tax code is too damn complex, but the least complex thing about it is the part where you look up your adjusted gross income in the tax table to figure out how much you owe. The complex part is figuring out your adjusted gross income in the first place, something that has nothing to do with whether the tax rate for millionaires is higher than the tax rate for those at the poverty line.
It is columns like this that cause me to lose patience with the tax jihadists on the right. It is dishonest to pretend that flattening tax rates has any connection to simplifying the tax code. It is dishonest to pretend that a flat income tax is “fair” while conveniently forgetting to suggest the same for Social Security taxes. It is dishonest to pretend that “income” is the same for everyone while failing to even mention capital gains, tax shelters, corporate perks, deferred compensation, pension contributions, stock options, or the thousand other options the wealthy have for making money that doesn’t quite count as “income.” It is dishonest not to mention that simple arithmetic guarantees that any flat income tax proposal would raise taxes for practically every middle class family in the country.
Semi-related: Back in December, this Plastic article really drove the point home with me about what’s wrong with our current (er, uh, Republican) tax policies (which aren’t flat, but getting there):
Stern
I’ve been listening to Howard Stern lately while driving to work. It’s been a few years since I’ve tuned in on a regular basis, but his recent run-ins with the FCC and subsequent anti-right stances have, obviously, been appealing. It’s funny — with all the vitriol, lying, and conniving that surrounds our public “discourse” and policy today, I find Stern almost wholesome. He is what he is, and nothing more.
Yesterday, he had Arianna Huffington on, pushing her new book Fanatics & Fools. She was surprisingly effective against the typical Stern guttural assault. She rolled with the punches, played along, and really did herself justice. Then they asked if she had ever been with a black man. She had. The flood gates opened.
Later, they called the Gubernator and got him to come on the air not knowing Arianna was the guest. That went surprisingly well, given the viciousness of their exchanges during the gubernatorial race, with Arnold being very respectful and complimentary of her… until Stern posed the “have you been with a black person” question to Arnold. His response? “Yes, Howard, but lots of guys were with that woman that night.” Well, at least he didn’t use the “N” word.
Arianna departed with these words: “Don’t ever have on [the program] a hooker who isn’t registered [to vote].” Funny.
Stern has the potential for driving a serious wedge into the presidential race. The GOP consists of two elements, which don’t necessarily have any interest in each other: the fundamentalist Christians and the fiscal conservatives. Historical ties have brought them together, but Bush clearly panders to the former. Someone who has mass appeal like Stern can really throw a wrench into the crazy fundie regime we’re now living under and steer many casual non-politicos away from voting for the Chimperor. I think many on the left are realizing this may be just what we needed. Stern has a huge audience and isn’t passive like the mainstream news outlets. The Stern Factor should not be dismissed or ignored. Quite the opposite.
Check out howardstern.com for more info on his battle with the FCC. Whether you like him or not, he is getting a raw deal.
Air America: The Sludge Report
After this drivel on Drudge, Air America releases The Sludge Report.
I always shy away from giving Drudge any coverage — we all know the guy would suck himself off if he could. But the AA response is mildly amusing.
It’s a bit unclear as to what exactly has transpired. Depending on who you listen to, either the radio network is a bunch of deadbeat check bouncers, or the owner of the LA & Chicago outlets is a slimeball used car salesman.
Meanwhile, they’re due to invade two previously Asian-language stations here in the bay area next month. In the mean time, you can catch them each day via internet stream.
condo-LIE-zza rice
It really makes me want to get up in a tower and start hurting some people.
Well, okay, Condi mostly. Can this woman ever tell the truth?
UPDATE: CAP separates fact from fiction. Does she have dissociative identity disorder? Or perhaps is an alien taking on (slightly) human form? It’s gotta be something. Or she’s just entirely conscience-free.
Leave No Photo-Op with a Minority Behind
Bush wuvs them Caucasianally-challenged peeps.
No irony here, folks.
Nope, none at all.
Move along.
[ via Atrios ]
Iraqi Parades
Not quite the Rose Parade, but…
Iraqis Drag Four Corpses Through Streets
It’s nice to see them having so much fun. We’re such good liberators! *warm fuzzy* Democracy goooooooood. We simply must invade more countries more often!
Anyway, this post isn’t really about that. Air America launches today, the “so-called liberal” radio network. (Why does every news report use “so-called?” Are we doubting its liberalism? Odd.) Unfortunately, their website blows and you can’t tell which end is up, much less find your local station. For the moment, you can only find it in New York, LA, Chicago, and Portland. Regulars include Al Franken (“The O’Franken Factor”), Janeane Garofalo, and RFK Jr.
A San Francisco station is set to pick it up next week. Streaming was purportedly on tap, but their website is effectively dead this morning. Republican DDoS attack! *shrug*
UPDATE: Air America is now streaming o’er da net for your listening pleasure.
Wasting Cycles
Okay, old addiction: grouphug.us. (Try the random link and keep hitting it for hours of terrifying fun.)
New addiction: seeing what my neighbors are donating to preznit wannabes at fundrace.org. They’ve even got geo-colored maps! Real purty.
UPDATE: Okay, fundrace.org is truly fascinating. Some finds:
- $2000 a piece to Dubya: Bill Gates, Steve Case & wife, Richard Parsons (CEO of Time Warner) & wife, Meg Whitman (CEO of eBay), Chuck Smith (CEO & Preznit of evil telecom giant SBC)
- Dick Cheney’s lesbian daughter, Mary, gave $850 to Bush. She also works for the Bush-Cheney re-election, a campaign that seeks to outlaw her civil rights through a Constitutional amendment. Oy.
- George Soros: $2000/ea. to Kerry, Edwards, and Clark. $1k to Dean.
- Susan Surandon: 2 large to Dean
- John Edwards apparently donated $2k to himself. How, uh, terribly useful.
- A Howard Dean of Hinsdale, Il donated $2k to Bush.
God, I love the Bushies
Fuckup #17812347134789:
Seen on The Daily Show…
WTVF, Nashville TN:
Reporter: When President Bush signed the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement & Modernization Act into law last month, millions of people who are covered by Medicare began asking how it can help them. The new law, say officials, simply offers people with Medicare ways to make their healthcare more affordable. In Washington, I’m Karan Ryan reporting.
Jon Stewart, Daily Show: Wow, that news report really makes me feel like the Medicare bill is a positive thing. Here’s the problem — there’s no such person as Karen Ryan and that news report is completely fake. The White House produced so-called “news packages” on the Medicare bill and sent them to local TV news stations with actors playing the roles of reporters. 33 of those stations then aired them as if they were actual news reports. I mean, honestly people, fake news?
…
Anyway, the faux-journalism gained furthered legitimacy by featuring an interview with Secretary of Health & Human Services Tommy Thomson, “This is the same Medicare system only with additional benefits for those seniors, plus some additional choices that each senior will be able to have.”
Well, that was some really heart-felt reading. Basically, this new Medicare bill is so good, the guy in charge of it can’t say anything nice about it without a tele-prompter. Even the General Accounting Office, an independent agency responsible for monitoring White House Spending, has faulted the ads as containing “notable admissions and other weaknesses.” But a spokesman for Tommy Thompson defended the fake news spots, noting, “Anyone who has questions about this practice needs to do some research on modern public information tools.”
…
Stewart: C’mon, it’s all there in the handbook. [cut to shot of 1984 by George Orwell.]
The scary thing is, it’s all true except the very last bit — you know, the punchline. It is, afterall, The Daily Show.
The extremely astute and on-top-things The Daily Show.
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